As a young man in 1969, I worked at a summer Salvation Army camp in Peppersauce Canyon, near Oracle. We were told that one of the last cattle-range wars of the early 20th century was fought at that site. I cannot find any verification of such a tussle and am hoping your sources are better than mine.

By "your sources," do you mean "getting other people to do your work for you"?

I couldn't come up with anything about a 20th-century range war in Peppersauce Canyon. That doesn't mean there wasn't such an event. I just couldn't find it.

I did, however, come up with a perfectly good 20th-century range war that took place near Globe. It will have to do.

I found this with the help of our state historian, Marshall Trimble, who got help from his friends Jinx and Jayne Pyle of Payson. They are avid students of the history of the Tonto Basin.

Actually, this doesn't seem to have been a range war as much as a feud between two families, the Armers and the Bacons, both of whom established or bought ranches in the Tonto Basin during the 19th century.

In 1920, one of the Bacons bought the Dagger Ranch, which was the only non-Armer-owned property. This annoyed the Armers, who wouldn't let the Bacons drive herds across their land to the Globe road. The cattle had to swim across Roosevelt Lake to get to the train depot.

The story involves charges and countercharges of rustling and hired gunmen and so on. The conflict went on for a few years until one day when the senior Armer rode to the senior Bacon's ranch and was invited in for a meal.

Supposedly after dining, Armer said, "Damn, this is good beef." To which Bacon replied, "Oughta be. It's yours."